Huffington Post is not usually a place where I would normally look for a edtech story, but somehow I came across this one by Don Tapscott. Tapscott points out that Portugal was suffering in 2005 until the government decided to make sure that students had access to the ‘net. The kicker to the success of this story is that Portugal actually invested into teacher training, curriculum change, and most importantly a culture change. Portuguese schools moved from the sage on the stage to the guide on the side. So many instructors/schools claim to do this, but unless it is system wide, it is somewhat problematic as students might get this great experience one year/term/course and then next class/term/year, they are stuck in the old mode again.
… [on a tour of schools in Lisbon]… They were collaborating. They were working at their own pace. They barely noticed the technology, the much-vaunted laptop. It was like air to them. But it changed the relationship they had with their teacher. Instead of fidgeting in their chairs while the teacher lectures and scrawls some notes on the blackboard, they were the explorers, the discoverers, and the teacher was their helpful guide.
Technology did its job by not being the focus of the interactions. All too often, instructors and admins are wanting to make sure the technology is front and center, showcased and shoe-horned into everything because of the cost of the hardware. Thankfully this should start to change as the hardware is getting cheaper all the time. It is too bad that it is the dollar that is making these decisions for schools, and not the ideal of changing learning. To change education, things have to act differently, not necessarily look different.
Leave a Reply